Follies Rehearsal 3

[AndrewRudin]

The great Boris Aronson designs. One of the most haunting shows ever... where the decaying theatre ended and the Winter Garden began, and the incredible Loveland Transformation. I'll never forget it.

[483mamaleh]

What wonderful memories this evokes of my student days when I was fortunate to be able to see this landmark show four times. The "Loveland" costumes, echoing the court of Marie Antoinette, were unforgettable. There's never been a Ben as heartbreaking wonderful as John McMartin's. And to think, he was only about 40 but could play any age with his prematurely silver hair. The 2011 revival is fine, but nothing will ever top the original in any category. The loss of Michael Bennett was tragic.

[483mamaleh]

What wonderful memories this evokes of my student days when I was fortunate to be able to see this landmark show four times. The "Loveland" costumes, echoing the court of Marie Antoinette, were unforgettable. There's never been a Ben as heartbreaking wonderful as John McMartin's. And to think, he was only about 40 but could play any age with his prematurely silver hair. The 2011 revival is fine, but nothing will ever top the original in any category. The loss of Michael Bennett was tragic.

[ivelosthewilltolive]

That's some dancing from Gene Nelson at age 51...

[johnyzero2000]

Holy crap was the whole show filmed!!!??? If so thank god it was preserved all shows need to be videotaped or filmed. I wish there was a channel called The Theatre Network that was devoted entirely to live theater. Too bad Actor Equity has a stick up their ass about taped and filmed live shows!!!!!

[ivelosthewilltolive]

@johnyzero2000 From your mouth to God's (or Actor's Equity's) ears. I think it's a tragedy that so many great performances have been lost forever because they weren't allowed to be filmed. There's practically no footage of Laurette Taylor, for example, and some people call her the greatest actress of the century...

[SeanPhillipMabrey]

After seeing the national tour of "Grease" starring Taylor Hicks, this has been a WONDERFUL musical theatre palate-cleanser. I can't thank you enough for sharing this.

[Sondheimsbitch]

All those of you discussing big budget shows and Follies and sondheim shows are missing the point. No monster hit will EVER happen whne the lyrics are as important as the music and the story is detailed. To have a monster hit now ask yourself; if i couldnt speak the language, what would i get from this show?

[cbdebill4]

I saw the original Broadway production. As much as I love this show, revivals, no matter how lavish (or not, as in the B'Way revival 9 years ago) just can't capture the unique convergence of talent that took place at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1971. A cast that included old pro's from the era (or, at least, had a brush with it) could never be replicated. If any show could be coined "legendary", this is the one!

[flammish]

gene nelson is amazing. and michael bennet is amazing for choreographing this

[andrewtarekrussell]

I feel like this footage is more precious than the Hope Diamond.

[OldieMusicMan]

It certainly is. God bless Youtube and those with the foresight to keep this footage alive and in one piece.

[BWAY62]

@andrewtarekrussell I couldn't agree more!

[uncletibs]

gene nelson was 51 in this?!

[mrgramercypark]

Bennett's choreography of "The Right Girl" is just brilliant.

[jjarndyce]

Love it. But I do agree with Prince and Bennett's later take, in that 'Bolero' should've been cut.

As for all the money issues - egad. With today's technology on stage they could easily do an astounding FOLLIES on a grand scale. They just won't. Not when Disney crap pulls in the money.

[TexasPhoneMan]

Wow....Dorothy Collins, John McMartin, Alexis Smith, Gene Nelson and Yvonne deCarlo. No producer today could afford a spectacle like this!

[an7iguy]

I actually asked Sondheim at Gypsy's closing if Follies would ever be revived, and he asked if I would pay for it. If producers can afford to have helicopters and chandeliers, I'm sure they could manage to Follies on a dime.

[TexasPhoneMan]

I suppose they could afford it--but the BIG question would be: Will it pay back the investors?  Very few of Sondheim's shows have done that. At least clips like this are surfacing to give us a glimpse of what it was really like in "the good old days".

[ablooky]

This show certainly didn't pay back its investors. It was a unique situation: Hal Prince had done so many huge hits (and even COMPANY had made some money) that he could raise a huge amount of money to bankroll a show that has a downbeat, small-scale story but needs the most lavish production possible. Of course it lost a ton of money. But it couldn't have been done on a small budget.

That's what's fun about the Sondheim/Prince shows, they combined risk-taking with big-budget production values.

[ivelosthewilltolive]

@an7iguy You must have come through because they're reviving it on Broadway with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Page! Previews start next week...

[antod11]

Wasn't Gene Nelson terrific..........pretty agile for 51 too. This footage has made my New Year. Thank's again for posting it.

I have often tried to imagine what the original production looked like and this is like finding buried treasure.

[darrintap]

How amazing that we get to see this video footage. Gene Nelson is just top notch, what a talented man, actor, dancer, singer, director, writer and producer. He did it all!

[penti77]

Thank you for such glorious footage from this original masterpiece!